


Method Acting

by redfern



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 20:28:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redfern/pseuds/redfern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel and Quinn are both in college. Both are studying the dramatic arts. Both are freshman cast in major college productions. Both have friends who suggest truly getting in touch with their characters. What real life experiences and emotions will they channel? And will it finally bring them back together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Take Me or Leave Me

“Oh my gosh. I’m bubbling over with excitement. I’m so happy. I love New York! I love NYADA! Take that, Lima Ohio. Rachel Barbra Berry is on her way to the top. One step closer to her Tony. One step closer to an EGOT. They’ll be talking about this for weeks back home, won’t they Brody?”

“Uh yeah Rach, maybe you should slow dow-“

“I bet you my dad could get this in the Lima Heights paper. He’s a good friend of the editor, you know? They’re in the same book club. Oh! I can see the headline now: Rachel Berry, small town NYADA freshman, lands her first big role.”

“Rachel, it’s only a college musical…”

“Just a college musical?! Brody, you said it yourself. No college freshman in the history of NYADA has ever landed a lead role in the winter showcase!” 

“Yeah…I probably should’ve never said that…”

“Yet here I stand! That first college freshman!”

“Okay Rach, maybe it’s best you stop gloating. Or can I at least walk you back to your dorm. You can gloat there all you like? If the director sees you…”

Brody took the opportunity to steer the two of them away from the theater doors and away from the jealous onlookers. Rachel was right. This was huge for her. She had every right to celebrate But he was worried, nonetheless. She had no idea what the pressure of being in a NYADA showcase was like. The scouts, the talent agents. Plus, she would really need to prove herself. He knew that almost every upper classman, and even Rachel’s fellow freshman classmates, would be waiting with baited breath for her to screw up. And if she did, they’d eat her alive.

He found himself oddly protective of the girl. Perhaps it was because when he first met Rachel, he saw the same uncertain, cautious and overwhelmed freshman that he once was. Perhaps it was because when he finally did get her to open up, he saw a girl bursting with confidence and positivity and pure talent. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be an older brother or a mentor. Or perhaps, he really did have feelings for Rachel. He wasn’t sure yet. He hadn’t really liked a girl in about a year. But he’d figure it out in due time.

However, Brody was certain of one thing. Rachel was the first true friend he had in a while. Friendship was hard to come by in a competitive, cutthroat environment like NYADA. So, he decided he would do everything possible to help Rachel, to make sure she wouldn’t falter. He’d do everything in his power to make sure Rachel wouldn’t make the same mistakes he had as a freshman. 

“Brody are you even listening?”

“Sorry, what?”

“I said I’m sorry! Here I am bragging all about my role and myself and I haven’t even congratulated you on yours, Roger! It’s too bad I couldn’t be the Mimi to your Roger. We do have some great chemistry.” She winked at him. “But I do suppose I’m better suited for the role of Maureen. And to think, I’ll be reviving the role my idol created! Idina! People say I look like her, you know?”

“You have a similar likeness,” he said as she opened the door to her dorm room. He figured now was as good a time as any to set his plan in motion. “But Idina is just so hot.”

She huffed, “But Brody after that Britney performance, I thought I could do ‘hot.’” 

Brody couldn’t help but laugh. 

“What?!” Rachel said, stomping her foot.

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just the fact that you put air quotes around hot. Who does that?”

Rachel gasped suddenly. “Wait are you saying that you think I won’t be a hot enough Maureen?!”

“No, no. Rachel, calm down and listen. It seems like you’re finally past that initial shock and overwhelming excitement, and now that you are, I want to offer you my help.”

“What? Like show me how to play sexy?”

“Well, I do think that is a large part of Maureen’s character. But not just sexy; more so provocative. She likes to make a scene, she likes to draw attention to herself.”

“I’m good at that,” Rachel joked.

“You are,” he smiled. “And the last ten minutes of your outburst is our proof. But Maureen tends to make a scene with her body. Over the Moon and La Vie Boheme are key examples of that.” 

“Okay, yeah that makes sense.” Rachel nodded and looked at Brody studiously. 

She made a mental note to write all this down later. The first thing that had really shocked her when she met Brody, aside from how similar they were (sometimes she thought she was looking at an older male version of herself), was how intuitive he was when it came to understanding characters. He taught her that even in a three-minute performance you’re still creating a character. Rachel always had a problem with understanding characters. She supposed it had something to do with being too self-absorbed. But Brody was helping her change that, and with his help maybe she could fully understand the character of Maureen.

“So what should I do?” She asked him. 

“You might not like it.”

“Brody, I can assure you that I will do absolutely anything to be the perfect Maureen. Like it or not.”

He looked to Rachel’s nightstand where Finn’s picture still stood. He had no idea why she still kept it out. 

“Finn might not like it…”

Rachel visibly shuddered and Brody felt like a jackass for bringing Finn up. When he first met Rachel, she was a shell. She spent the first month of school constantly calling Finn, checking in on Finn, and trying to get back together with Finn. It was tiring. And depressing. Rachel had barely made any friends in college. Her roommate Bree had tried to get a fun side out of Rachel but quickly grew annoyed with her. Rachel even failed to take advantage of the fact that she was in the greatest city on earth. The girl truly got nothing out of her Finn obsession and the only thing Brody really got out of it was that this Finn guy was a poor excuse for a boyfriend and seemed to be dragging Rachel down. Then it settled for a while when Rachel and Finn got back together. But just three weeks later, Finn broke up with Rachel again. It was endless. 

Until finally, classes started to pick up around mid October and so did Rachel’s confidence. She buried herself in homework and scripts and extracurriculars. Brody guessed that some preexisting spark had been relit.

Rachel quickly looked at Finn’s picture and then rolled her eyes. 

“I don’t care what Finn likes or doesn’t like anymore. He’s just a good friend from home. Go on, Brody.”

“Okay, then to get to Maureen’s inner ‘hotness,’” he used air quotes and Rachel smiled, “we should start at the root of the character.”

“Which is?”

“Maureen’s sexual fluidity of course.” 

“Huh?”

“Rach, did you forget one of Maureen’s most important character traits. She’s gay!”

“Yeah so what does that have to do with me?”

“Well, you’re not exactly Miss Promiscuous and you are definitely not sexually fluid. Trust me, I’d know.” 

“Okay, okay. But I still don’t get how Maureen being gay—or sexually fluid or whatever you call it—how does that have anything to do with me?” Rachel cheeks flushed. “I mean I’m not gay.”

“Yeah and that’s the point.”

“Brody, you’re really confusing me right now.”  
“You’re not gay. You have no experience being gay.” Rachel’s face flushed again. “So, how do you expect to create that crazy sexual tension with Joanne.”

“Um by acting…”

“No Rachel, you’re going to need to really understand Maureen if you’re going to impress a crowd full of jealous peers, expectant teachers and hungry talent agents.”

“Oh…shit.” Brody smiled. He liked hearing Rachel curse. “Okay. So gay. I can do that. Of course, I can. My dads are gay, my best friend from home is gay, my best friend from here is bi,” she grinned at him and Brody winked back. However, he did feel a twinge of annoyance at the mention of Kurt Hummel. Brody was really not a fan of the Hummel-Hudson clan. When Kurt came to visit Rachel for Halloween, she mentioned in passing that Brody was bi. Kurt then proceeded to say something along the lines of it being a ‘bullshit-still-in-the-flaming-closet-excuse.’ Since then, Brody believed wholeheartedly that Lima, Ohio bred some really intolerant and closed-minded people. 

“…I’m in New York, I’m at a dramatic arts school. I basically scream gay,” Rachel finished.

Brody quirked his eyebrow and she flushed again. “I hate when you do that eyebrow thingy,” she muttered. “Alright, so what I just need to hangout with some more lesbians? Oh, I’ll give Santana a call!”

“Yes! Do that. Call her up, have her come visit and make out with her.”

“Wh—what?” Rachel stuttered. 

“Well, how did you expect to make out with your Joanne counterpart when you have no prior girl-on-girl experience? Honestly Rachel, sometimes it shocks me that you’re a theater major. I mean every girl I know in theater has made out with another girl.”

“So you’re saying I need to kiss a girl…”

“And you better like it,” he smirked. “Cause that’s how it needs to look onstage. So this Santana, let’s call her up. Is she hot? I love hot lesbians.”

“No no no. Not Santana.”

“Oh, so she’s not hot? Too bad. I was looking forward to tha—.”

“She is hot!” Brody looked at her, puzzled. “She really is. It’s just she has a girlfriend and they’re madly in love and it’s the cutest thing in the world and I would never want to hurt Brittany like that.” 

“Okay, so we’ll find someone else for you to hook up with. This is New York, Rach. No worries.” He lay back on her bed and closed his eyes. Being Rachel’s mentor/brother/potential suitor was exhausting sometimes.

After a few minutes of silence, he heard Rachel rummaging through her desk drawer. He figured she was getting started on some homework. But with Rachel, silence came in rare and short forms. 

“Brody…”

“Yeah?”

“What if I don’t want to hookup with a random girl?” she asked tentatively.

“Why? Did you have someone in mind?” Brody looked over at her.

Rachel had an envelope in her hand and she was thumbing through whatever was inside. 

“Rachel, who did you have in mind?”

“Well, there’s this girl—this friend. One of my closest friends, actually. And she goes to Yale.”

“You have a friend at Yale? How have you not mentioned this?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Quinn. And we have a really complicated past. Really complicated. But she’s really smart and really pretty and she goes to Yale. And well, I could easily go to visit her, seeing how I have all these metro north passes.” She pulled them out of the envelope.

“You bought metro north passes to New Haven and never used them?”

“Actually, I didn’t buy them. She did. For me.”

“Wow, this could work…” Brody muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.” But it wasn’t nothing. Brody couldn’t help but think that a friend would never spend that much money on another girl who was just a close friend. There had to be something more. A deeper connection. Something that would explain why Rachel was acting so nervous and distracted at this first mention of Quinn. “Okay, so then you go up to Yale for a weekend. Visit Quinn. Get drunk at whatever party she takes you to. And then make out with her. Mission accomplished.”

“I don’t know if it’ll be that easy Brody. You see Quinn, she was a cheerleader and president of the celibacy club and pregnant once and used to call me manhands and—“

“Wait, pregnant?”

“That’s not the point. The point is that this is Quinn we’re talking about. She would never just make out with a girl, nonetheless me. She was raised in the most conservative and intolerant family in all of Lima, Ohio. And that’s saying a lot seeing as everyone is super conservative and intolerant in Lima.”  
“Well then you’ll just have to use all ten of those tickets until she does make out with you.”

Rachel rolled her eyes and blushed. “Brody I know everyone in this business is intense, but has anyone ever told you that maybe you’re just a little bit too intense with all this character business?”

“All the time, Rachel.”


	2. Helena

“So Quinn…”

“Brodyyyy,” Rachel groaned. “It’s three in the morning now. How many more questions are you going to ask me?”

“Hey, Rach. You called me out on being intense. This is what you get.”

“A full-fledged Quinn interrogation—lamp and all?” Rachel asked, clearly annoyed.

Brody couldn’t resist. “Yup, a ‘quinnterrogation.’”

“That’s enough! Out. Of. My. Room,” said Rachel through her teeth as she tried to push him off her bed.

“Alright alright, one more question and I’ll leave.”

“I’ve already told you all about our long and complicated Finn/Quinn/Rachel triangle. What other questions are there?”

“One more. You talked all about your past with her. But how about the present? Have you spoken to Quinn since she’s been at Yale? What has she been up to?”

“I…I don’t know.”

\-----------------------------------------------------

“The Bard of Avon! Shit wow. Can you believe this, Sam? In just three months time, we’ll be up on the Rep stage performing one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. William. Shakespeare. The greatest writer the western world has ever seen.”

“Quinn, I’m in just as much shock as you are. I’m only a sophomore. I didn’t think I’d get a lead role until my junior year. And you’re only a freshman—a fantastic actress—but still just a freshman.”

“Fuck.”

“What?”

“Sam, I’m only a freshman. Fuck. The rest of the cast, the entire theater department, every single theater major. Oh shit, they’re all gonna hate me…”

“Quinn, calm down. No one could eve—“

“They’ll all judge me and hate me. Why would Jeff cast me as Helena?” Quinn started nervously biting her nails. Sam thought it was one of her cutest habits. That and the lip biting. But she also knew it was a sure sign of Quinn’s mind was running in circles. 

“Sam, is this some kind of freshman hazing prank? What is it—cast the shittiest freshman in a lead role and watch them make a fool of themselves? Is that what this is?! Oh god I knew I was never cut out for Yale—”

“Fabray!”

“Huh?” Quinn stopped biting her nails, but looked away distractedly.

“Look at me,” Sam said, grabbing Quinn’s face between her hands. Quinn blushed. “That’s better. Now listen to me. This isn’t a prank. We would never do that, you should know that. Plus, Yale has some crazy anti-hazing rules in place, so that’d basically be impossible. Also, I would never let something like that happen to you,” she brushed her thumbs across Quinn’s cheekbones. 

“You earned this role fair and square. You deserve this role. You’re the best Helena there could be and you’re the best freshman to walk through those theater doors in god knows how long. You’ve proven yourself. Don’t worry about everybody else, because if anyone does doubt you, I’ll kick their ass.”

Quinn stood up from the theater steps and pulled Sam into a tight hug. 

“Oh Hermia, it’s too bad Helena doesn’t get to fall for you,” she whispered into Sam’s ear. Then, Quinn pulled away and smirked, “then again Dr. Clark did make us read an essay on homoerotic subtext in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I do recall some mention of Helena and Hermia’s relationship.”

“You and your literature courses, Fabray,” Sam laughed. “Come on, whose place tonight? Yours or mine?”

“It’s Thursday, which means we’re in luck and that Julia’s gone home for the weekend. Plus, we’ve got some celebrating to do.”

Quinn stopped suddenly and turned to Sam. She noticed the dark look in Quinn’s hazel eyes, and leaned forward. Their lips met and both girls felt warm in the early November night air.

“Wow, Quinn they oughta give you lead roles more often. You never kiss in public.” 

“Well maybe if we were actually dating…” Quinn mumbled.

Sam chose to ignore it, “I can’t stay late though. I’ve got work tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said dismissively.

Quinn swiped the two of them into her dorm. Donnelly Hall was the same dorm Sam had lived in last year and coincidentally where Quinn and Sam first met. 

Back in August, Sam had volunteered to help with Freshman Week. She was put on the move-in team for Donnelly. Carrying boxes up flights of stairs for seven consecutive hours on the hottest day in August and watching happy families say tearful goodbyes had made Sam annoyed and frustrated. She was thankful that the day was over and she could finally sit down and breathe. That lasted about thirty seconds. Sam couldn’t help from wondering what idiotic freshman shows up for move-in at 4:15 when move-in was clearly scheduled for 8-4. She angrily grabbed a box marked Fabray 403 from the girl’s trunk and carried it up to the room. She wanted to get this finished with as quickly as possible, and apparently so did all the other volunteers because by the time she got back down to the car for the second box, it turned out to be the last of the girl’s possessions. Sam took her time carrying up this last box, but stopped suddenly outside 403. She heard yelling coming from within.

“Mom, listen I’m grateful for you driving me all the way from Ohio, but please can you just leave?!”

“Quinn, I will not be disrespected like that!”

Sam couldn’t help from thinking what a cute name Quinn was for a girl. She had a friend back home with a brother named Quinn, but she’d never heard it used as a girls name. She liked it.

“Mom, I’m not disrespecting you! I just don’t want to deal with one of your fake tearful goodbyes! I told you, I’m starting college anew. I want to be who I’m really meant to be! So, I don’t need any fakeass—“

“Language, Quinn!”

“—Fabray tears here, Mom. So let’s just go our separate ways. I’ll check in every month or so, update you on classes and general school stuff. And that’ll be that. Okay?”

“Then that’s that.”

The door opened suddenly and Sam was so startled that she dropped the box she’d been holding.

Mrs. Fabray shot her a look that could kill and simply muttered, “that god forsaken hotel better have a bar because I’m going to need a gin and tonic.”

The older woman knelt down and picked up Quinn’s sheets, which had fallen out of the box. She stood back up, carefully folding the sheets and handing them back to Sam, she said, “Make sure she makes her bed, will you?”

And with that, Mrs. Fabray turned on her heel and left. 

Sam found herself feeling sorry and concerned for this Quinn Fabray. She too had her own complicated family history. So, she picked up the box, walked into 403 with a smile on her face and reached out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Sam McCullough. You’re gonna love Donnelly. I lived here last year.” 

From that moment, Sam and Quinn became close friends. They grabbed lunch everyday. Sam told Quinn all the ins and outs of Yale. They started going to all the theater parties together. Sam could still remember the party when the two girls became more than friends. 

They were getting ready together, as usual, and Sam suddenly decided that she could trust Quinn. She told her flat out that she was gay. Quinn blushed for a brief moment, but then replied with a smile, “that’s cool, my best friend from home is gay too. She’s dating my other best friend. It’s actually really adorable.”

They got to the party and Quinn seemed more physically relaxed around Sam. In fact, she was hanging all over Sam for the majority of the night. Anyone else in the room would’ve probably assumed they were dating. The party ended and as always, Sam walked Quinn back to Donnelly. She felt the need to thank Quinn for being such a good friend.

“Hey, Quinn. Before you go in, I just wanted to thank you for being so cool about before.”

Quinn pulled her into an unexpected hug and whispered “of course.” She pulled away and looked into Sam’s brown eyes.

“You know I dated a Sam once.” Sam couldn’t hold back. There was something in the way Quinn said it. It lured her in. So she kissed her.

And that was that. 

But here she was in Donnelly 403 once again, and suddenly Sam felt smothered. She was falling. She couldn’t fall again. Not after last time. So, she decided to stop things before she fell too hard.

Quinn closed the door to her room and pulled Sam to her. She ran her fingers through Sam’s short brown hair. Sam shivered. She had to do this right. She had to do it kindly. She pulled Quinn’s arms around her neck.

“Quinn…” she said, looking seriously into those intoxicatingly hazel eyes.

“Sam, what’s wrong?”

“Listen, I think we should slow things down…”

A million different emotions flashed across Quinn’s face. It settled on anger.

“Slow things down? What the fuck is there to slow down, Sam? We’re not even dating!”

“I’m not ready to—“

“And don’t you dare pull that bullshit excuse of not being ready to date again! Fuck, are you ever going to get over your ex, Sam?!”

Sam felt a pang of hurt. “It’s not her…”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just,” Sam searched her mind for an excuse. She hated lying but she needed to do this for herself. And she figured it might help Quinn in some way. “Well, it’s the show. I’m worried Quinn, about what you said earlier.”

“What the fuck—”

“Just hear me out okay,” she held Quinn’s hands in hers. “People aren’t going to hate you because you’re going to blow them out of the water with your performance. I’m certain of that. I just think you need to be absolutely certain with your performance. You need to absolutely embody Helena.”

“What are you even suggesting?”

“Well through out all of Midsummer, Helena is dealing with a crippling unrequited love for Demetrius…”

“I know Sam, I’ve read the fucking play,” Quinn said, her eyes still swimming with anger.

“Well, I think you should get in touch with that emotion. To really understand Helena.”

“So you’re fucking ‘slowing things down’ so I can have a taste of unrequited love. Wow Sam, that’s fucking presumptuous. Do you really think I’m in love with you?”

Sam felt her heart lurch. 

“No…no I don’t. I’m saying we should slow things down so you can meditate on that. A little bit of method acting, so to say. There must’ve been someone in your past, Quinn. A former crush? I know you mentioned, what was her name? Rachel.”

Quinn’s face flashed a million and one emotions, once again. Instead of settling on one in particular, she looked away and began biting her nails. Sam proceeded with caution; she knew she was treading on dangerous ground.

“Quinn, I’m not saying we end things all together. Let’s just see where slowing things down takes us? Just watch, I’m one hundred percent sure you’re Helena portrayal will be Oscar worthy. I’m gonna go, okay?”

Quinn didn’t respond. Sam walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. She sighed and proceeded to make the long, cold walk back to her dorm.

Back in 403, Quinn methodically got ready for bed. She washed her face with ice-cold water, brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas. She tried reading but couldn’t get through even a paragraph of her book. She tried writing in her journal but couldn’t think of what to write. So, she just turned off the light and let her mind wander in the dark. 

She knew she should be upset over Sam, upset over whatever the hell that semi-breakup was. But Sam wasn’t the name that was circling in her head. The name that was, was Rachel. She kept seeing flashes of long brown hair, and then she’d suddenly think of hugging Rachel and burying her face in that long brown hair and being engulfed by the scent of sunshine and morning grass. Quinn was certain of one thing. Helena never knew unrequited love like Quinn did. She felt tears on her cheeks, but willed herself to sleep before she could cry. 

Meanwhile, just eighty miles away, that very same Rachel typed out a facebook message and hit send.

“I’ll show you, Brody,” she muttered before turning off her light and going to bed.


End file.
